As a child, I used to think that the bright green re-growth on trees burnt during a bushfire was nothing short of miraculous.

After fires in the Royal National Park, near Sydney, where it seemed as if nothing would ever live again in the charred landscape, not only trees sprang back to life but also grasses and flowers, including the beautiful Gymea Lily.

Earlier this year a fire burnt very close to where we live. It left behind scorched trees and earth on both sides of the road and damaged trees on the edge of a pine plantation. Most of the plantation was saved and it was harvested a few months later.

A large expanse of land, where the plantation once stood, now carries only the detritus from the harvest, a few small pines and a scattering of rangy eucalypts on the ridges.

Scorched trunks of tall pines that grew on the western edge of the plantation have been left on the ground to rot. Unlike much of our native vegetation, most exotic species don’t regenerate after fire.

After recent Spring rain, the trunks and branches of the burnt eucalypts are now covered in new growth.

If you’d like to read about how soil is affected by fire, have a look at the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment website.

When leaves of eucalypts are lost, new growth erupts from the epicormic buds under the bark of trunks and branches. Lignotubers – underground nodules bearing dormant buds – can also sprout and are often the first sign of recovery.

The fire’s intense heat helps release the seeds of many species – such as Hakeas, Banksias, some wattles and eucalypts. With the ash bed providing nutrients, and with more light reaching the ground due to the canopy having been opened up, seeds released by the fire have ideal conditions for germination.

For thousands of years, Australian aborigines used fire to secure their food sources and valuable plant materials. Australia’s vegetation has evolved by adapting to those burning patterns.

On the front boundary of the pine plantation site, Hardenbergias, grasses and wattles have regenerated and I spotted this tiny lily that I think is a Milkmaid (Burchardia umbellata). It’s in flower near clumps of others that are about to bloom.

While a bushfire so close to home was something that I never want to see again, at least there’s now a bright (green) side to it.